Author: Sonia Farid

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A few days after the incident that sent shockwaves across all Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited the victim of sexual harassment incident that took place during the celebrations of his inauguration in downtown Cairo. She had sustained serious injuries as a result of the assault.

“I apologize to you and to every Egyptian woman,” he told the woman in her hospital bed as he presented her with a bunch of flowers. “And I promise that this will never happen again.” The visit, the first of its kind, was met with positive reactions on the part of rights organizations. For director of the Egyptian Center for Women Rights Nehad Abul Komsan, the visit heralds the beginning of “the new state,” one in which women issues will be given priority.

“I have witnessed three eras,” she said in a TV interview. “First the [Hosni] Mubarak era when we raised the issue of sexual harassment and were told to shut up, then the [Mohammad] Mursi era when harassed women were held accountable for the assaults they were subjected to. Finally, now women are beginning to have their restores.”

For Hafez Abu Saeda, chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, the visit’s significance mainly lies in the president’s acknowledgment of sexual harassment as an alarming phenomenon.

“The president now admits to the danger sexual violence is posing to Egyptian society and has highlighted urgency of fighting it,” he said in a press interview. Mohamed Zarea, director of the Cairo-based Arab Penal Reform Organization, sees the visit as an initial deterrent. “Criminals have recently been escalating their assaults owing to the absence of a deterrent, but the visit is a message to them that this will no longer be the case.”

Law too lenient

However, neither the visit nor the positive reactions to it managed to assuage the concerns of a large number of activists and organizations who are still questioning whether the new sexual harassment law, officially added as an amendment to the Egyptian penal code a couple of days before the incident, will be capable of effectively curbing the phenomenon. In fact, objections to the law started well before the inauguration day incident. Mounira Sabri, a member of Egypt’s New Woman Organization, said that the law does not mention mob attacks or the use of weapons.

“The punishment stated by the law is also extremely lenient, especially that it makes it up to the judge to choose either a jail sentence or a fine as punishment,” she said. Sabri added that the law renders stalking a main component of the crime of harassment, which, she argues, is a major problem. “This will open the door for many interpretations of the action of ‘stalking’ plus harassment can be committed without following the victim at all.”

Fathi Farid, coordinator of the “I Saw Harassment” initiative, which encourages Egyptians to come forward if they spot any incidents, pointed out that one of the major problems of the law is the fact that the victim has to take the harasser with two witnesses to the police station. “The law did not also make it clear how the crime of harassment can be proven,” he said. Farid criticized the law’s failure to protect the victim properly.

Jail sentence, fine or both?

“The law mentioned nothing about the support offered to victims after the crime and nothing about specific cases like if the offender is the victim’s father or uncle,” he added. Farid also criticized the punishment, which he argued should be both a jail sentence and a fine that are determined in an ascending order in accordance with the severity of the crime. While Farid did not deny that issuing the law in itself is a step on the right path, he still questioned its ability to end sexual harassment. “It is a positive step no doubt, but it is a law for adapting to the crime rather than eliminating it.”

Mazan Hassam, director of Nazra for Feminist Studies, called for dedicating an entire chapter in the Egyptian penal code to sexual assaults on women. “This chapter should be entitled ‘Crimes of sexual violence’ and should include everything related to those crimes instead of having them now scattered across three chapters.”

Following the sexual assault incident, a group of women and human rights organizations issued a joint statement underlining the shortcomings of the current sexual harassment law and demanding amendments that would guarantee stricter penalties. “We demand adding a clear definition of rape that includes oral and anal rape and rape with knives and fingers as well as a clear definition of sexual assault,” said the statement. The signatories also called for an amendment that protects victims from other forms of harassment that follow reporting the crime, especially by the families of offenders.

Ibaa al-Tamimi, a spokesman of the Harass Map initiative, argued that the problem lies in the implementation rather than the text of the law and cited the police as the major challenge. “The police often tend to sympathize with harassers or be harassers themselves,” she told the Guardian. “Even when someone manages to get to the police station to report harassment, she will still encounter resistance from police officers, who will try to deter her from going through with filing the police report.” Two policemen interviewed by the Guardian had different views on the issue.

Ashamed

The first, Colonel Ahmed al-Dahaby, said that the problem is not the police as much as the society. “Our traditions are what stop people from filing charges. The girls are scared—they’re too ashamed,” he said. The second, who spoke on condition of anonymity, partly blamed women for the crime of sexual harassment. “The fault is a shared one between the guy and the girl—the girls because of the way they dress,” he said.

On the other hand, the sexual assault was seen by many as part of a conspiracy to tarnish Egypt’s image and ruin the inauguration day celebration. This view was supported by head of the National Council for Women Mervat al-Tellawi who accused the Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the incident. “Women were dancing in front of polling stations on election days and nobody harassed them so what happened on the inauguration day is suspicious,” she said in a TV interview.

Conspiracy theories

“Those criminals were paid by the Muslim Brotherhood to ruin the happiness of the people.” Tellawi supported her argument with a tweet written by the daughter of senior Muslim Brotherhood leader and which read, “Even Tahrir Square, the icon of revolution and struggle for freedom, is now the square of dancing, harassment, and vice.” Hayat al-Shimi, member of the executive bureau of the National Front of the Women of Egypt, agreed with Tellawi. “This was a conspiracy to tarnish Egypt’s image in front of the world and the culprits infiltrated the square for this purpose,” she said. Sheikh Mazhar Shahin, the imam of Omar Makram Mosque in Tahrir Square, also accused the Muslim Brotherhood. “This is a trap,” he wrote, “We have taken part in a hundred protests before and this never happened. The timing shows that this is a conspiracy to embarrass Sisi.”

Talk about a Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy was scoffed at by a number of activists and groups, who expressed their indignation at the denial of a problem as pressing as sexual harassment. In response to conspiracy theories about the sex attack, writer Mai Nour prepared a report that included U.N. statistics about sexual harassment in Egypt. “According to a U.N. Women study conducted in 2013, 96.5% of Egyptian women were subjected sexual harassment and in 93% of the cases the police do not come to their rescue even when being asked by the victims,” she wrote. Nour also mentioned virginity tests conducted on female protestors in March 2011 in the military prison as a form of state-sponsored sexual harassment.

Amid grave concerns, conspiracy theories, and alarming statistics state officials stress that the new law would gradually prove its effectiveness in curbing then eventually eliminating sexual harassment.

For Ahmed al-Sergani, deputy interior minister for human rights, criminalizing sexual harassment is in itself a major step. “For the first time the word ‘sexual harassment’ is mentioned is the penal code as a crime,” he said. Sergani also said that there is a plan for supporting victims of sexual harassment.” A special fund will be established in coordination with the National Council for Women for all sorts of violence against women including forced marriages and sexual exploitation,” he explained. “We are also working on establishing special sexual violence units in police stations where trained female cops can receive the victims.”

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On June 3, former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was officially declared Egypt’s president. His victory was not a surprise, but the percentage he scored, an overwhelming 96.9 percent, was.

Yet, the results, like the elections, remain controversial for while Sisi’s supporters see the number of votes he obtained as the ultimate proof of his entitlement to the presidency, his critics and several analysts prefer to look at the circumstances surrounding the results. And while the first camp views Sisi’s coming to power as a promising start to a new phase in Egypt’s political scene, the second foresees another era of state repression. Both parties, meanwhile, try to figure out the reasons and significance of such a victory.

More to Sisi’s victory

While admitting that unlike his rival Hamdeen Sabahi, Sisi did not offer a clear electoral program, former MP and political analyst Amr al-Shobki argued that there is more to Sisi’s victory than what he promised to do during his presidency and that analyzing the 2014 presidential elections through candidates’ platforms is rather unrealistic at this stage. “Egyptians overlooked the candidate who had a platform and instead voted for one who did not have one,” he wrote in part two of a series of articles entitled “Landslide victory,” which he dedicated to analyzing elections results. “Even though victory was expected, this percentage and in free and fair elections was really striking.”

According to Shobki, the slogan Sisi chose for his presidential campaign, “Long live Egypt,” although too broad, played a major role in earning him people’s support. “Many Egyptians were emotionally affected by this slogan since it came at a time when they felt that Egypt was under a real threat.” The Muslim Brotherhood, Shobki added, constituted a decisive factor in Sisi’s victory whether during their rule or after their ouster. “The fact that Sisi responded to the will of the people and ousted Mohammad Mursi made him very popular,” he explained. “The violent rhetoric of the Muslim Brotherhood following Mursi’s ouster enhanced this popularity and confirmed Sisi’s role as the nation’s savior.” Shobki also argues that for a large number of Egyptians, Sisi defied the United States when he ousted the Islamist regime it supported, thus creating a general sentiment of sovereignty. “Egypt had been a subordinate of the United States throughout the 30 years of Mubarak’s rule and the same happened when the Muslim Brotherhood came to power, so Sisi was for Egyptians the man who defied this subordination.” The turmoil witnessed by neighboring countries, Shobki noted, made Egyptians more convinced that Sisi is the right person at this stage. “Egyptians chose to support the state because they realized that its demise would be disastrous and for them Sisi was the one capable of keeping this state afloat.”

The number of votes

For writer Emile Amin, the number of votes Sisi got, as impressive as it was, is not the most important issue when examining why his victory is not an ordinary one. According to Amin, the 2014 presidential elections constituted the first real democratic practice since the 2011 revolution. “This was an election that used neither religion nor money to blackmail the Egyptian electorate,” wrote Amin, in reference in the Muslim Brotherhood’s campaigning tactics in parliamentary and presidential elections. Amin explained that for the first time, Egyptians went to the polls without being manipulated by the religious discourse or bribed with money and foodstuffs. In attempting to understand the reason for Sisi’s overwhelming victory, Amin cites Syrian thinker Hashem Saleh who interprets the rise of radicalism in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in the light of Hegel’s concept of “the cunning of reason” or “the cunning of history,” that is the way regressive powers play a role in introducing a progressive path. This, Amin argues, is what the Muslim Brotherhood did in Egypt and what eventually triggered the rise of Sisi. “The word “cunning” here is used in the positive rather than negative sense,” wrote Amin the article he called “Sisi’s victory and history’s ‘cunning’ with the Muslim Brotherhood.” “What does this mean in relation to the story of the Muslim Brotherhood and Sisi’s landslide victory? It means that history uses unexpected tools, like reactionary movements, to achieve progress and sometimes even needs those tools for higher ends and long-term plans.” Therefore, Amin explained, Egypt had to suffer from a wave of radicalism in order to pave the way for a new era of enlightenment and progress.

Sisi’s victory is also seen as a glimmer of hope for Egyptian Christians, who were subjected to waves of violence at the hands of radical Islamists during the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. Bishop Adel Zaki, Egypt’s vicar for Latin Catholics, pointed out that Sisi’s era is expected to be one of stability for Christians. “Sisi has never said anything to show that he discriminates between Muslims and Christians and sectarian tension is not expected while he is in power,” he said in an interview. “It is well known that he is a religious man, but for him religion is a personal matter and his topmost priority is Egypt.” This was proven, Zaki added, when Sisi ousted the Muslim Brotherhood to save the country. “Hadn’t it been for him, a civil war would have broken out and we would have become another Iraq.”

Mara Revkin, while agreeing that Sisi’s victory dealt a strong blow to the Muslim Brotherhood, does not see an end to radicalism in Egypt in the near future. In her article “Brotherly love: Why Sisi’s win is good for al-Qaeda,” published in Foreign Affairs magazine, Revkin argues that Sisi’s victory gives militant Islamist groups a pretext for stepping up their jihadist activities now that they are certain that taking part in politics, as in the example of the Muslim Brotherhood, proved a failure. “From al-Qaeda’s perspective, the election results have validated its core ideological claim that violence—rather than peaceful participation in politics—is the way to build an Islamic state,” she wrote. Revkin supports her argument through citing al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri and other jihadist leaders who blamed the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood on choosing politics over militant jihad and predicts that Sisi’s coming to power might signal a joining of forces between al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood members still at large. “That leaves thousands of disillusioned Brotherhood supporters susceptible to recruitment by radical groups… Sisi’s victory is likely to perpetuate a vicious cycle of violence and retaliation between the military and the Islamists.”

Problematic victory

Political activist and chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party Mohammad Abul Ghar sees the victory problematic in a different way. He first criticizes the way the state dealt with the electoral process especially as far as the low turnout is concerned. “The results of the elections were a foregone conclusion,” he said in his article “Sisi as president: A reading of the elections.” “That is why there was no justification for the state’s exaggerated agitation and which drove the presumably independent elections committee to extent voting for a third day, close several shopping malls, and threaten to impose a fine on boycotters.” Those measures, Abul Ghar noted, not only tarnished the image of the committee, but also revealed that extra efforts were made to attract more voters contrary to expectations. “Sisi’s campaign and others expected that at least 80 percent of registered voters would go to polling stations and vote for him and were surprised to see that less than half of them took part and that more than one million spoilt their votes in objection.”

This, Abul Ghar argued, puts into question Sisi’s popularity, which was thought to be overwhelming following his ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood. Abul Ghar lists the problems that, from his point ofview, led more than half the voters not to support Sisi. “First, there is an obvious problem in Sisi’s relationship with the youths, who constitute 50 percent of the voters. Second, Sisi is surrounded by several figures from the Mubarak regime who think they can regain their power. Third, Sisi is totally neglecting all political powers including ones that supported him. Fourth, Sisi’s campaign was too over-confident.” Abul Ghar added that leading members in Sisi’s campaign might have been from the military and those had already proven their limited political expertise while results could have been better had the campaign been run by veteran politicians. Another obstacle that stands between Sisi and a sizable portion of Egyptians, Abul Ghar explained, is his stance on the shape of the next regime. “Many Egyptians fear the return of Mubarak’s dictatorship and Sisi did not say explicitly that he supports democracy, human rights, the constitution, and the separation of powers.” Sisi’s electoral economic plans, Abul Ghar added, are not applicable. “An economic program that depends on internal and external aid is unrealistic.” Abul Ghar also commented on the fact that Salafi factions declared full support for Sisi in the presidential elections then “stayed at home” as he put it.

In “When facts are falsified through song and dance,” Tarek Mustafa Salam saw the elections as having dealt a “fatal blow” to Sisi despite the victory. For Salam, the reaction of the media to the low turnout proves Sisi’s failure to garner the support he expected. “We saw TV presenters in different pro-Sisi satellite channels getting hysterical as they insulted Egyptians and called them unpatriotic and Muslim Brotherhood agents,” he wrote. “And we saw them giving lame excuses for the low turnout like the hot weather.” According to Salam, celebrations that swept Egyptian streets following the declaration of Sisi’s victory were only a way to cover up the failure to rally all Egyptians behind Sisi. “Only in Egypt are facts falsified through dancing and singing,” he wrote. In fact, Salam argued that the circumstances surrounding Sisi’s victory only confirm that ousted former-President Mursi is still Egypt’s legitimate leader, yet he denies being a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. “My stance does not mean that I support t Muslim Brotherhood rule… I only support justice wherever it is and democracy no matter what its results are,” he concluded.

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“As presidential elections approach, it is more than likely thatEgypt will continue to see attacks,” said David Barnett, analyst at the U.S.-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, in anticipation of rising violence by extremist groups opposed to the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood and the candidacy of former Defense Minister and Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Barnett’s predictions started materializing when three Egyptian soldiers were killed in a drive-by shooting on May 20, one day after the conclusion of overseas voting, in which Sisi scored a 94 percent victory. With the number of Egyptian police and army personnel killed by militiamen reaching at least 500 since the toppling of Mursi and with homeland elections, scheduled for May 26 and 27, going on, fears of intensified attacks are growing and so are the state’s precautionary measures to counter them.

Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim had announced on May 4 that the ministry has prepared a comprehensive plan in coordination with the army to secure the electoral process. ” I promise the people that we will pass this critical stage until the elections are safely completed,” he said in a press conference. “All that I ask of them is to report anything suspicious even if it proves unreal in the end.” While reassuring voters, Ibrahim noted the practical impossibility of installing surveillance cameras in every street. “We don’t have that kind oftechnology but we will do our best.” It was not until the last attack took place, however, that the ministry started giving more details. Deputy Interior Minister General al-Shafei Abu Amer announced on May 21 that “deterrent forces” from the army will start deploying around polling stations two days before the start of the elections. “Those forces are used for the first time for immediate intervention in emergency situations,” he said in a press interview. “They will be especially stationed in restive areas where groups that aim to destabilize security and undermine the democratic process are influential.” The army, Abu Ameradded, will provide explosives experts and advanced equipment that detects bombs from a distance and allow immediate action. “All forces will be in contact with operation rooms that will be run by police and army leaderships.”

Ready for all sorts of scenarios

On May 25, Abu Amer said the ministry is ready for all sorts of scenarios including the worst, by which he meant violence and bombings that aim at stopping the elections. “Other than that, our general plan includes securing not only all polling stations but all the streets surrounding them and different routes voters are expected to take on their way in and out,” he said in a press interview. “This is a big challenge that we have to face.” Interior Ministry official spokesman Hani Abdul Latif said that police checkpoints points will be present in streets and highways across the country and security will be tightened in areas surrounding strategic facilities like police stations and prisons. AbdelLatif echoed Abu Amer’s statement about the ministry’s readiness for different scenarios while giving more details on what these scenarios are expected to be like. “We are ready for riots like those practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood during their protests, terrorist operations like detonations and booby-trapped cars, and direct attacks on polling stations,” he said in a press interview. “I am warning all those who dare think of disrupting the elections and I am telling them that they will only have themselves to blame.” The Egyptian Air Forces will take part in monitoring the elections through taking aerial pictures of the polling stations and sending them to the main operations room as well as serving as ambulances in cases of violent clashes and emergency situations. Air Forces planes will also transfer more than 1,100 judges in charge of monitoring the elections to the polling stations to which they were assigned in remote areas across the country. On the regional level, a delegation from the Egyptian Interior Ministry received 15 armored vehicles from the United Arab Emirates to help in securing the electoral process and countering any possible attacks. “This step comes against the backdrop of escalating terrorist attacks that targeted Egyptian forces since the ouster of Mohammad Mursi and in anticipation of more attempts to disrupt the presidential elections,” wrote journalist Mahmoud Sabri on the news website erem.com.

The minister of communications and information technology said that 2,000 digital readers will be used in the upcoming elections to identify eligible voters. “Those readers were used before in proxies for potential presidential candidates and changing voters’ addresses as well as in oversees voting,” he told Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency (MENA). The Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), affiliated with the Egyptian Cabinet, will form a central operations room fully equipped to be in contact with another subsidiary 27 operations rooms throughout the country. “The operations room will also be connected to several ministries like defense, interior, health, and local development as well as other relevant bodies like the Ambulance Authority,” said IDSC chairman Sherif Badr. “Our role in monitoring the elections is part of the state’s effort to facilitate the process and deal with any upcoming obstacles.” According to MENA, official representatives of Egypt’s governorates met on May 24 to confirm that all preparations for the elections have been completed with special focus on services that ensure the smooth progress of the voting process like electricity and the installation of generators in areas where blackouts are frequent in addition to ensuring easy communication among polling stations. Minister of Local and Administrative Development AdelLabib confirmed the readiness of all governorates to carry out the elections. “All the polling stations are now ready,” he said in a statement. “Everyone is on duty and officials in each governorate will pass by the polling stations to ensure the process is going on smoothly.” Labib added that all details have been taken care of, including the availability of enough chairs for senior citizens. The Ministry of Health declared a state of alert as it readied itself for possible injuries in case of attacks and/or clashes. ” The Crisis Management Committee will be working nonstop throughout the two days,” said Health Minister Adel Adawi during the meeting he held with members of the committee to oversee the final preparations for elections.

“Ministry officials will be making tours in hospitals to make sure all the required equipment and medicine are available.” The ministry had announced earlier that all hospitals will be on alert to receive emergency cases and 2,500 ambulances will be made available throughout the country.

Anti-riot forces

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim surveyed the anti-riot forces that are to take place in securing the elections. “I have come to convey to you the gratitude of all the Egyptian people,” Mehleb addressed the officers. “Egypt appreciates all the sacrifices offered by police officers at this critical stage in order to keep it safe and fight terrorism,” Mehleb added. He further added that he is sure that the police and the army will together be able to secure the elections and Ibrahim seconded his opinion as he praised the role of the police in “protecting the people and the land.”

A large number of non-state bodies are also getting ready for securing the elections, though in a different manner. The Journalists’ Syndicate announced forming its own operations room to monitor the elections and to receive instant reportsfrom field journalists as well as any complaints in case they are subjected to harassment or violence while doing their job. Several rights organizations declared a state of emergency as they prepared to detect any violations. More than 6,500 monitor from 38 organizations that obtained monitoring permissions are preparing to spread across polling stations after receiving training by the National Council for Human Rights. The council also formed an operations room to monitor the elections under the leadership of deputy chairman AbdelGhafar Shokr. “The operations room will receive complaints and violation reports from voters and representatives from both presidential campaigns” said the council chairman Mohammad Fayek. “Its members will also meet with delegations from different local and international organizations that will take part in monitoring the elections so that the council can make sure their job is done smoothly.” The Network for the Protection of Egyptian Children formed a team that will be in charge of detecting the use of children in any form of campaigning or violence or for any political purposes during the two days of the elections.” After the results are out, we will report all the problems we traced to the president elect and present to him our vision for the future of Egyptian children,” said a statement issued by the network.

Logistical obstacles

The Ibn Khaldoun Center for Developmental Studies focused on logistical obstacles that might be facing a sizable portion of voters. Dalia Ziyada, the center’s executive manager, called upon the Higher Elections Committee to solve the problem of Egyptians living outside their hometowns. “Egyptians living far from the governorates in which they are registered are required by the Higher Elections Committee to register at their governorates of residence if they want to vote there,” she said in a press interview. “The problem is that many of them did not register and are unable to go back to their hometowns.” Ziyada demanded that the committee allows those voters to register at the polling station or online. The center, Ziyada added, will contribute to the monitoring process with 3,500 monitors.

The European Observation Mission (EOM), affiliated to the European Union, announced it will take part in monitoring Egyptian presidential elections after an impasse caused by the confiscation of its telecommunication equipment and medical kits by Egyptian authorities was finally resolved. The confiscation had led the mission to earlier announce it was unable to monitor the elections and would only send a team to evaluate the electoral process, yet the situation changed after Egyptian customs released the equipment. “Our equipment has been released from customs,” announced European Parliament member and chief of observers Mario David “EOM is able to continue to observe the presidential election in Egypt as widely as possible throughout the country.” David, however, mad sure to stress that monitoring the elections does not in any way reflect the EU’s political views on the elections, but will only monitor the process. “The EOM neither legitimatizes the elections nor validates the results,” he said in a press conference.

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On May 5 and 6, former army chief and Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made his first TV appearance after officially announcing his intention to run for president. The lengthy interview, in which the man who toppled former President Muhammad Mursi spoke of his electoral platform, has been the subject of much analysis in the Egyptian media.

The focus has not been on the retired Field Marshal’s manifesto as much as his attitude. Commentators laid more emphasis on analyzing his character through his answers and reactions, as well as predicting the interview’s impact on the results of the elections, to be held on May 26 and 27.

While a sizable portion of analysts seem to see Sisi as another dictator who would crush opposition and curb freedoms, others consider his firmness as a much-needed advantage. In both cases, little is said about what he actually has to offer if he becomes president.

Journalist Wael Eskander was one of the first to comment on the interview in his article “Sisi in the hot seat: reading between the lines,” published on May 7 by the Atlantic Council.

While saying Sisi “came out a hero” when he talked about the ouster of Mursi and complying with the will of the Egyptian people, Eskander added that he was not able to handle many of the discussion topics, either by not giving direct answers, or avoiding some issues altogether.

“Even though he was only pressed lightly, there was an air of impatience in his tone and mannerisms,” wrote Eskander. “At one point he rebuked the presenters saying, ‘Do you want to listen or do you want to talk?’” According to the journalist, Sisi offered nothing new because he was addressing his “fan base,” rather than attempting to gain more supporters.

“As he tries to build on past popularity, he must realize he will have to offer something new if his popularity is to be sustained,” wrote Eskander. “His answers indicated that the height of his ambitions is to restore order through existing institutions, keep the Muslim Brotherhood at bay and keep the country afloat.”

Eskander’s views are shared by many commentators whose apprehensions about Sisi’s possible ascension to power have intensified following the interview. For writer Fahmi Howeidi, there were two major concerns. First, Sisi maintained a military tone that contradicted the fact that is he a civilian presidential candidate.

“The general in him was much more present than the presidential candidate,” Howeidi wrote in his article “Idealizing the president of Egypt.” Sisi “might have taken off his military uniform and put on a civilian suit, but this was only a matter of appearance… 45 years of military service cannot be wiped out in a few months.”

Secondly, while sounding strict domestically, Sisi seemed very conciliatory towards countries currently seen as adversaries, such as Qatar and Turkey, and others that are viewed as enemies, such as Israel.

“This lenient tone… became very firm and unyielding when he talked about democracy, protests, and political Islam and when he rejected any form of dialogue with factions he stated clearly would have no place during his rule,” wrote Howeidi.

Military tone

Tamer Abu Arab seconded Howeidi’s opinion regarding Sisi’s military tone. “I won’t allow you to say the word ‘junta’ again,” said Sisi during the interview, adding that the Egyptian army should be referred to as “the military institution.” Abu Arab says this gives an insight into the type of president Sisi will be if he wins the elections.

“Now he is – supposedly – a civilian candidate who has not become president yet and has not yet possessed any tools of power, yet he says to a prominent anchor, who is also one of his supporters, ‘I will not allow you’,” wrote Abu Arab. “Just imagine what he would do to a humble member of the opposition when he becomes president and all state institutions come under his control.”

He attributes Sisi’s attitude to his army background, and says military leaders in general do not believe in the power of the people. “We don’t have one example of a military leader who respected the people or shared power with them,” wrote Abu Arab. “He might sympathize with the people or work on making their living standards better… but he would do that in a patriarchal, condescending manner.”

Balshi added that Sisi “said he consulted his family, but said that when it comes to the country he does not pay attention to family concerns. He wanted to make it clear that he has the final say even if he consults his family. He is the man of the house.”

Sisi displayed the same attitude, Balshi wrote, when asked whether he took the army’s permission. “He said it clearly and more than once: ‘The army chief notifies and does not obtain permission’.”

For Balshi, like Eskander, Sisi was only speaking to his supporters. “He was not concerned at all with addressing his critics. To me he looked like he only cared about keeping his already existing supporters while totally ignoring all the others.” Balshi added that those “others” constitute a sizable portion of Egyptians who demand real democracy and more freedoms.

Blaming the interviewers

Other critics of the interview shifted the blame to the TV presenters. Journalist Ahmed al-Saeidi lists 50 questions about security, society, politics, diplomacy, economics and the environment that should have been asked but were not.

“Sisi said it hurts him to see Egyptian women insulted. What about virginity tests conducted while he was head of military intelligence?” asked Saeidi. “What would he do as president that he was unable to do as minister of defense and vice president for security? Why were most Jihadists released… while he was head of military intelligence?”

Egyptian director Mohamed Khan accused the interviewers of siding with Sisi or being “too soft on him.” However, writer Mohamed Habib saw the interview as an important step towards establishing a closer relationship between Sisi and the Egyptian people. He said the interview revealed Sisi’s human side, as well as a strong personality, determination and firmness.

“His tone became angry when he talked about threats to national security, terrorism, and the return of the Muslim Brotherhood. The spirit of the army with all its history, victories, and dignity was very present at that moment,” Habib wrote.

He praised Sisi’s approach to the Palestinian cause: “He said he is committed to the peace treaty [with Israel] but will not be able to receive the Israeli prime minister or visit Israel until a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Habib did not see a problem in Sisi scolding the interviewers for not listening. “I agreed with Sisi when he told presenters that he is the one who is supposed to talk. Most presenters ruin interviews through interrupting their guests unnecessarily which makes the audience unable to follow.”

Abdullah al-Mughazi, spokesman for Sisi’s presidential campaign, refuted claims that the interview did not contain anything new. According to Mughazi, Sisi talked about several main points in his electoral program, including projects concerning the Suez Canal, the development of the Sinai Peninsula, and the re-mapping of Egypt’s administrative divisions. “These are all projects that were very well-studied,” the spokesman said.

This interview, and others to follow, will be the means by which Sisi’s program is made public, Mughazi added. “Sisi’s electoral program won’t be printed, but will reach the people through a series of interviews since interaction is always more effective,” he said. Mursi “had a printed program that contained big dreams, none of which came true. Sisi, on the other hand, is a man of action.”

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“An open invitation to an outlawed assembly” is the name the April 6 Youth Movement gave to the protest it held on April 30 against the controversial court ruling that banned the group’s activities and ordered the closure of all its offices. The April 28 verdict was issued by the Court for Urgent Matters in response to a lawsuit filed by Egyptian lawyer Ashraf Saeid, who accused the group of espionage and defamation of Egypt’s image.

“We’re gathering here today to declare that the ban is of no value to us,” said Amr Ali, April 6 coordinator from the protest in downtown Cairo. “No judge has the right to ban a group with the history and influence of April 6 in 24 hours.” Such verdicts, Ali added, have become a tool used by the state to crush opposition since the June 30 protests that toppled the Muslim Brotherhood and brought the military back to power.

Ali was reiterating the main points in a statement issued by the movement after the ban. It said April 6 was not only a movement, but also “an idea,” and so cannot be outlawed. It pledged to continue its activism as part of its belief in “freedom of expression as a basic human right granted by the constitution as long as it is done peacefully.” The state “has become so fragile that the chants of protestors would defame its image.”

Al-Dostour party said in a statement: “The April 6 ban constitutes a serious threat to democratic progress and a violation of the principles of the January 25 and June 30 revolutions.” The rule of law, the statement argued, is being compromised through levelling unfounded accusations. “Where did these charges come from? What is the evidence that April 6 is guilty of such grave crimes?”

The Free Egyptian Party posed the same questions, and demanded a detailed public account of the legal bases on which the verdict was issued. “We are extremely concerned that such rulings are only motivated by political animosities,” said the party’s statement. “In this case, being silent about it would constitute a political and ethical crime, especially that in the future all is bound to suffer the same fate.”

Ziad al-Eleimi, former MP and member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, wrote: “How could you ban a group that is not a legal entity to start with? And how are they going to closethe ‘offices’ of April 6? Will they close all the coffee houses in downtown Cairo?”

For leftist presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, the April 6 ban is detrimental to freedom of expression. “The verdict is in violation of the entire chapter on freedoms in the constitution that was approved by the Egyptian people,” he said. Sabahi’s presidential campaign issued a statement warning of the potential return of “the state of repression, banning, and confiscation,” and of undermining the goals of the revolution.

“The campaign is against the April 6 ban not only because restriction of freedom of expression is a characteristic of non-democratic regimes, but also because it is likely to bring about violence and extremism,” said the statement. “We do respect the independence of the judiciary, but we would never accept its politicization.”

The Revolution Path Front declared its solidarity with April 6, whose members it described as “partners in the struggle for freedom.” The front said Egyptian revolutionaries would never give up their right to protest until the goals of the Jan. 25 revolution are reached.

“We will keep fighting and will not be hampered by laws that have nothing to do with the law,” it said in a statement, referring to the new protest law under which founding members of April 6, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel, are serving three-year jail sentences.
The April 6 ban, the statement added, is part of a series of verdicts that prove the damage that has befallen the judiciary. “This is, in fact, the same damage that can been seen all over state institutions at the moment.”

For the Muslim Brotherhood, declared a terrorist organization by the state, the April 6 ban places the two groups in the same position. “Welcome to the camp of the outlawed,” said Brotherhood leading member Gamal Abdel Sattar, addressing April 6.

Support for the ban

Activist and former MP Hamdi al-Fakharani said: “Banning the activities of April 6 was a matter of national urgency. Several of the movement’s leaders maintained suspicious ties with foreign entities that worked on undermining Egypt’s security.” The ban should be applied to any group that operates outside the law and outside state control, he added. “Those groups infiltrate Egyptian society in order to inflict harm upon it.”

Mohamed Abu Hamed, former MP and current leader of Al-Sisi Supporters Movement, which campaigns for presidential candidate and former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, described the ban as “patriotic,” citing the movement’s alleged role in threatening national security.

“Banning illegal and suspicious groups is necessary to protect Egypt and its people, and to prevent those groups from recruiting Egyptian youths for foreign organizations.” Abu Hamed urged the Foreign Ministry to issue a “strong-worded” statement rejecting any interference in Egypt’s affairs and court rulings, referring to international condemnation of the ban especially by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.

Tarek al-Kholi, a former April 6 member who is currently part of Sisi’s presidential campaign, attributed the court ruling to a series of mistakes committed by the group, which had cost it popularity. “This ban was imposed by the people before the court,” he said.

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On April 21, Ali Reda, head of the Touristic Investment Authority in the Red Sea, voiced the objection of the authority’s board of directors, the owners of hotels and tourist facilities, and tourism sector staff to the Egyptian government’s plan to use coal as an alternative source of energy. He underlined the damage that would specifically befall this coastal part of the country if the plan is implemented.

“Coal will be detrimental to tourism in the Red Sea,” he said in a press statement. “It will pollute the environment, harm people’s health, and destroy marine life especially coral reefs.” Reda specifically objected to importing coal through Safaga, a major Red Sea port, since, he argued, the resulting damage would also extend to the infrastructure.

“The highways in this area are not fit for the transportation of coal from Safaga so the roads will be substantially damaged,” he said. “Add to that a remarkable increase in road accidents.” Ahmed Droubi, coordinator of the Egyptians Against Coal movement, agreed with this last point: “Eight million tons of coal a year would require 250,000 to 500,000 trucks on our roads carrying coal. Can you imagine that?”

Coal critics

Reda and the tourism sector he represents constitutes the latest addition to a long list of critics of the Egyptian government’s decision to import coal for powering cement factories.

Approved by the Egyptian cabinet on April 2, the decision followed a significant cut in natural gas supplies to cement factories to solve the problem of frequent power outages that, occurring almost on a daily basis, had been subjecting government performance to scathing criticism.

During the meeting in which the decision was made, the cabinet stressed its “commitment to all precautionary measures recommended by the World Health Organization and to enforcing those measures on all facilities that manufacture, import, transport, store, or use coal,” according to the cabinet’s official statement.

The government, the statement added, would also work on modifying the environmental law so that violating facilities would be penalized. “A tax will also be imposed on factories that use coal.”

Minister of Environmental Affairs Laila Iskander said: “I have failed to convince the government to retract its decision to import coal. My team and I were unable to make them see the magnitude of the hazards of importing coal and the environmental disaster that would follow.”

Iskander, who warned that using coal as a source of energy would turn Egypt into “a carbon state,” said that despite the objections, the ministry will have to do its part if coal is to be imported anyway.

“We cannot allow divisions within the government and have to work together,” she said. “What can be done now is setting the environmental rules that should regulate importing, transporting, storing, and using coal. We are working on that now.”

Iskander explained that three teams in the ministry are working on a plan to minimize the harm of coal.

“The first team is working on modifying the environmental law, the second on setting requirements and regulations, and the third on preparing for the measurement of harmful coal emissions,” she said. Commenting on the third team’s job, Iskander said the ministry still needs to procure the necessary equipment. “This needs to be done as soon as possible.”

Iskander is to be subpoenaed on May 10 by the Administrative Court for the lawsuit filed by leftist activist and rights lawyer Khaled Ali against the cabinet’s decision to import coal. Ali’s lawsuit is part of an expansive campaign launched by a number of activists and rights organizations to stop the import of coal.

Blind eye to the disaster

A joint statement by several rights and environmental groups accused the government of giving in to pressure by cement factories while turning a blind eye to the disastrous impact of coal on Egypt and its citizens.

“Cement investors are waging a political and media war to push the government to overlook the hazards of using coal through taking advantage of the current energy crisis and promising to reduce cement prices in return,” said the statement. “The cabinet is siding with those investors and ignoring the studies that underline the grave consequences of such a decision.”

In addition to the general environmental hazards, the statement specifically highlighted the impact of using coal on residents of areas surrounding cement factories, and which is expected to last for several generations. The signatories expressed their surprise that while the world’s biggest industrial countries are moving away from coal, Egypt insists on using it.

“In Germany, 61% of energy used in the cement industry is generated from waste and in the Netherlands, the percentage rose to 98% in 2009.” According to the statement, several developing countries are also working on long-term plan to discard polluting sources of energy. “Kenya is expected to generate 50% of its energy from solar energy by 2016 while Morocco will generate 42% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.”

Egyptians Against Coal, one of the signatories of the above statement, emerged as the most vocal opponent to the use of coal. Comprised of rights activists and environmental experts, the group launched a campaign to underline the damaging effects of coal.

According to a statement issued by the group, the only beneficiary of the cabinet’s decisions are cement investors whose profits will skyrocket after using a cheap source of energy such as coal. The main loser is the Egyptian people, whose health will suffer drastically.

“Coal affects the brain, the nerves, the lungs, and the blood. Research proved that inhaling coal dust causes redox reactions and increases chances of lung cancer, blood viscosity, and narrowed blood vessels.” All these effects, the statement explained, are the result of being around coal, and before even starting the process of burning it to generate power.

The group questioned the government’s allegations about the use of coal being a temporary solution. “The use of coal requires a significant change in the infrastructure, which would make Egypt dependent on it for at least the coming 40 years. We can already see other industries like iron and steel and tiles asking to use coal, too.”

Minister of Trade, Energy and Investment Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour was among the most prominent senior officials who supported the cabinet’s decision. Abdel Nour said Egypt is facing a real energy crisis and coal offers a realistic solution. “Energy shortage is a major challenge to economic and industrial development, especially with oil and natural gas being unable to meet all demands,” he said.

Several developed countries have had positive experiences with coal as long as regulations are applied, he added. Abdel Nour, who announced that coal will start to be used as of September, argued that while depending on new and renewable sources of energy is vital, it does not offer an immediate solution.

“Those offer medium- to long-term solutions, while we need alternative sources of energy as soon as possible to supply industrial needs, attract investment, and create more job opportunities,” he said.

Minister of Electricity and Energy Mohamed Shaker adopted the same view, as he unraveled plans to construct a coal-operated power station in the Red Sea to solve the problem of blackouts, and downplayed fears of harmful effects. “Power-generating stations have now reached the highest levels of technology so emissions are reduced to the minimum,” he said.

Owners of cement factories see importing coal as the only available way to save their businesses, which had for a long time depended on subsidized natural gas. “My factories completely stopped operating for almost a month last summer,” said Moataz Mahmoud, who owns cement factories in the Upper Egyptian cities of Qena and Aswan. “We have a huge energy crisis.”

In response to the argument about the effect on coal on residents in neighborhoods close to the factories, Mahmoud said this only applies to a few cases. “Most of the factories are far away from residential areas, so why don’t they give at least approval now to the factories that are far away?”

Ramah Taha, managing director of a cement factory in Aswan, said the cement sector submitted a study that details the plan cement factories are to follow in order to ensure the safest use of coal.

“The study included all the precautions that we would take in order to use coal, the specifications of the filters, mills, and ports, and all the involved ministries agreed, including the prime minister, except for the minister of environmental affairs,” he said.

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On April 9, Salem Abu Ghazala, deputy head of the Supreme Council of Arab Tribes, announced a one-month truce between the Upper Egyptian tribes of Bani Helal and the Daboudiya a few hours before the first truce, which was to last for three days, had expired. “The truce aims at paving the way for a final reconciliation between the two tribes as well as identifying the actual perpetrators and estimating the damages,” he said in a press statement. “The state is to interfere in case the truce is breached.” Each tribe formed a committee to monitor the implementation of the truce and make sure normalcy is restored in Aswan, the city in Southern Egypt that witnessed the bloody conflicts which killed 26 and injured more than 50 while the Supreme Council of Arab Tribes formed a fact-finding committee to look into the triggers of the clash.

The fighting reportedly started on April 2 when two students from the Nubian tribe the Daboudiya wrote offensive graffiti on their school wall about a girl from the Arab Bani Helal tribe while according to the Interior Ministry statement, the Bani Helal girl was sexually harassed by a group of Daboudiya’s young men. A cycle of violence and counter-violence ensued during the following two days that witnessed intensive gunfights and acts of vandalism amid complaints of minimal intervention on the part of security forces. The unprecedented nature of the incident triggered a spate of speculation about the real reasons for the occurrence of the massacre and the political factors that might have been involved.

Muslim Brotherhood involvement?

“There are signs of the involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood in igniting the conflict between the two tribes,” said Egyptian army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali in a statement. Although the Interior Ministry attributed the conflict to the alleged sexual harassment incident, Nubian lawyer and rights activist Mohammad Azmi had a different story.

According to Azmi, the Interior Ministry first claimed that the conflict was between members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other residents of the city and did not interfere for two whole days because of the ties between security forces and members of the Bani Helal tribe. “Security forces have been using members of the Bani Helal tribe, who mainly work in drugs, arms dealing, and prostitution, to crush protests and sit-ins by force. That is why they have become very influential,” he wrote on his Twitter account. Azmi also refuted allegations by severalmedia outlets concerning an old feud between the two tribes. Nubian activist Manal al-Tibi argued that the Interior Ministry was unable to deal with the Bani Helal tribe because they are heavily armed. “According to eye witnesses, security forces were very weak because they could not confront the arsenal of Bani Helal,” she said in a press statement. “On the other hand, the Daboudiya’s only weapons are cudgels and knives.” Dozens of Nubians staged a protest in Cairo, calling for the resignation of Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim, who they accused of siding with Bani Helal, and demanded that investigations into the massacre be conducted by officials from Cairo as the head of the Aswan Investigation Bureau is a member of the Bani Helal tribe.

The involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood was, however, supported by several parties. Former Aswan MP Helal al-Dandarawi said that a teacher from the school where the fight started opened the school gate for members of Bani Helal to attack the Daboudiya students who were said to have harassed the girl. “This teacher is a member in the Muslim Brotherhood and is reported to be behind the graffiti that insulted the Bani Helal girl,” he said in a TV interview. In another interview, Dandarawi noted that the font and color of the graffiti that insulted Bani Helal is the same as that written in retaliation allegedly by Bani Helal to insult the Daboudiya. “This means that a third party was trying to turn the two tribes against each other,” he added.

According to Judge Mohamed Adlan, chairman of the Nubian Club, the Muslim Brotherhood started the conflict to retaliate against Nubians for their stance on presidential elections. “When Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with Nubian leaders, members of the Muslim Brotherhood were infuriated and decided to take revenge,” he said in a TV interview. Adlan argued that the number of the deaths from Bani Helal proves that there was a conspiracy. “Nubians do not possess weapons, so how all those members of Bani Helal were killed remains a mystery.”

Hani Youssef, coordinator of the Nubian Union, had a differentview. “I am against Mursi, but we cannot blame everything on the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said in a TV interview. “This will never solve the problem.” Potential presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi agreed: “There is no evidence to prove the Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement in the Aswan crisis,” he said. “The state has to assume its responsibilities.”

A larger conspiracy

On the other hand, Presidential Media Advisor Ahmed al-Meslemani saw the conflict as part of a larger conspiracy to create an independent Nubian state.

“Several domestic and international parties are involved in a plot to separate Nubia from Egypt,” he said in a press interview. “These attempts would never bear fruit.” He did not, however, name the parties involved. While Meslemani did not support the argument about the Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement, he did accuse the group of taking advantage of the crisis. “The Muslim Brotherhood is trying to politicize the incident to make it seem like a conspiracy by the security forces to distract public opinion from the state’s repression of Islamist protests,” he explained. “Several of the Muslim Brotherhood websites have been promoting this theory.” In the same vein, Sheikh Mahmoud al-Helali, the imam of a mosque in Aswan and a member of the Beni Helal tribe, accused the Interior Ministry of distracting public opinion from the security forces’ inability to contain the crisis as soon as it had started. “It is always easy for security forces to accuse the Muslim Brotherhood to cover up for its negligence,” he said in a TV interview. “They have to admit they were wrong so that similar incidents will not recur.”

“Had it not been for us, the situation would have been much more disastrous,” said Aswan Security Chief General Hassan al-Sohagi. “We intervened at the first minute.” Sohagi refuted claims by members of both tribes about the absence of security forces. “The occurrence of some incidents that we could not prevent was due to the extreme proximity of members of the two conflicting tribes,” he said in a TV interview. “Some even live in the same building.”

“The Aswan security chief is held accountable for every drop of blood that was shed in the city,” insisted Ibrahim al-Prince, coordinator of the Arab Tribes coalition, for his part.

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On April 6, Gaber Nassar, president of Cairo University, is to sign a cooperation protocol with the “Shoft Taharosh” movement (Arabic for “I’ve been a witness to harassment”) which was founded in Cairo in 2012. According to the group’s coordinator Fathi Farid, the protocol would allow members of the movement to be constantly present across Cairo University’s grounds to document cases of sexual harassment and to conduct surveys with female students about previous experiences of sexual harassment by male colleagues. “The Ministry of Higher Education, the university president, and university security have to facilitate the movement’s job and cooperate with volunteers who would be raising awareness on campus about the dangers of harassment and ways to fight it,” Farid said in a press interview.

The protocol is to be signed between Nassar and movement representative Azza Kamel. According to Nassar, members of the group are to obtain special IDs that will enable them to enter the campus. “They will soon come to my office to complete the necessary paperwork in order to start their work on university grounds,” he said in a TV interview.

Pink top, blonde hair

This news comes in the aftermath of a sexual harassment incident against a female student on campus which made international headlines. The movement, which identifies itself as “a pressure group that works on monitoring and documenting sexual harassment crimes against women,” was the first to report the incident.

According to the statement it issued, dozens of male students surrounded a female student near Cairo University’s School of Law on March 16 and harassed her. “They first harassed her verbally then started touching her and attempted to strip her of her clothes,” said the statement.

“The girl had to hide in the ladies room until security personnel were able to save her and get her out of campus.” While mediareports and the university president referred to the incident as unprecedented, the movement stressed in the same statement that “this is not the first incident of its kind” and that female students have always been subjected to different forms of sexual harassment on campus.

The incident triggered angry reactions among intellectuals and rights activists not only due to the nature and context of the incident, but also due to many of the responses that followed. The most controversial response was that of Nassar himself when he gave a phone interview live on TV a day after the assault took place.

According to Nassar, the girl, who is shown in the video wearing black pants and a pink top, was wearing a loose garment and took it off upon entering campus. “University security does not admit students wearing improper clothes,” he said. “Students’ clothes have to be in line with society’s traditions and we will never allow otherwise to happen.”

Blaming the victim

Responding to Nassar in the same talk show, Farid expressed his shock at the university president’s push to blame the victim instead of acknowledging his moral responsibility for her and objected to his statement about the university administration’s intention to take disciplinary action against the girl and the men who assaulted her. He also refuted Nassar’s allegations about the incident being a first. “A year ago a student from the School of Engineering was sentenced to a month in jail and this was in the press and everyone knew about it,” he said. “He is clearly not doing his job properly at the university.” Farid added that the movement receives dozens of complaints from female students who are harassed by their male colleagues and sometimes by their professors.

On March 19, Nassar issued a statement in which he fully condemned the harassment incident. “The perpetrators of this crime have to be penalized and the victim is not to be blamed at all,” said the statement. “There is nothing that justifies such a crime.” Nassar apologized for his comments on the victim’s clothes, which he attributed to the tension caused by the magnitude of the incident. “I also want to stress that the girl is not to be subjected to any disciplinary action. She will only be summoned to give her testimony about the incident.” He also called in a TV interview upon all students who were witnesses to the incidents to give their testimony and pointed out that students involved in the assault could be subject to dismissal from the university.

While Nassar’s change in stance was welcomed by women rights organizations, which had earlier described his initial response as “regressive,” the reaction of male students interviewed by several media outlets was considered shocking.

Public opinion

In a survey conducted by the Egyptian daily independent al-Shorouk, one of the students, while stressing that the victim was not wearing a loose garment on top of her clothes as claimed by Nassar, blamed university security for admitting her into campus “in such improper clothes.” He also said that what the boys did should not be considered harassment.

In another survey conducted by the news website Veto Gate, a student who witnessed the incident blamed the victim for her “extremely provocative outfit.” When asked if he ever thought of reporting the incident to the dean, he said: “Why should I report it? She had it coming. She provoked the people.” Another student blamed the victim’s parents “for allowing her to go out like this.”

The most shocking response, however, was that of TV talk show host Tamer Amin who referred to the victim’s outfit as “seductive,” “revealing,” and “slutty” and to the attackers as “sexually frustrated” and “miserable” while also blaming both her parents and university security.

Amin criticized the university administration for not being firm enough with the girl and argued that clothes are not a matter of personal freedom. “She is free to wear whatever she wants or not to wear anything at all when she’s out spending the night at bars and whorehouses, but not in state-supervised institutions,” he said. “She was obviously going to campus for another reason that is not related to education.”

Victim’s fear

“If there ever was a case that demonstrated the senselessness of victim-blaming in sexual harassment, it is that of Egypt,” wrote Hannah Somerville in The Independent last week.

In her article entitled “Sadly, this poor woman’s experience at Cairo University is all too common in Egypt,” Somerville noted that a recent U.N. survey revealed that almost 99% of Egyptian women have been subjected to sexual harassment. She, however, expresses her surprise at the lack of official records for the number of harassment incidents owing to women’s fear of exposure.

“Strikingly, the majority of data on the topic comes from NGOs and international organizations, for the simple reason that many women do not report such events to the police,” she added.

In an article entitled “The streets belong to them – women should stay at home,” published in al-Masry al-Youm on March 19, writer Rania Ibrahim linked the Cairo University incident to the general allocation of space between men and women in the Egyptian society.

She recalls seeing a group of young men celebrating New Year’s Eve in the streets while she, driving back home at the same time, made sure she locked her car door so that none of them would be able to assault her.

“While men are out celebrating, thousands of women are at home for fear of going out and being harassed and very few take the risk,” she wrote.

“The city’s nightlife belongs to men because they can do whatever they want without being assaulted or intimidated.” The Cairo University incident, Ibrahim argued, proves that the spaces women have been “allocated” by Egyptian society are getting more and more limited.

“Women are now threatened not only in the streets or in public transportation, but also in their work or study places,” Ibrahim said, adding that women in Egypt are seemingly allowed to practice their rights while in reality they are being deprived of them.

“It’s as if women are allowed to leave their homes under unspoken societal terms: you can work and get an education, but be prepared to bear the consequences if you are humiliated or sexually assaulted while doing so.”

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This week, human rights lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali retracted his decision to run for Egypt’s 2014 elections, citing serious reservations about the new presidential election law. Ali objected to Article 7 of the law, which makes the decisions of the Presidential Elections Committee immune to appeals.

“A candidate who is deemed unqualified by the committee has the right to go to court. If the results are rigged, they have to be contested,” Ali said in the press conference he held to announce his withdrawal. “This is not only in the best interest of candidates, but also of the Egyptian people.”

Ali did not approve of Article 18 of the law, which gives candidates only 30 days to campaign, including meetings, flyers and posters, media outlets, and other activities “permitted by law.” Ali said if members of a candidate’s campaign engage in any kind of gathering seen by the authorities as a form of campaigning before the specified time, they can be arrested under the protest and assembly law.

The same timeframe applies to receiving funds. “How am I supposed to tour all Egypt and collect donations within this short time?” he asked. Ali attributed this article to the state’s reluctance to give “other candidates” the chance to promote their programs.

Article 28 is equally problematic for Ali, as members of the candidate’s campaign in subsidiary polling stations will not be given a copy of the results, as was the case in the 2012 elections. They will only receive reports of the results in the main polling stations, which does not allow them to monitor the process of adding up votes.

Article 1, which lists the qualifications of a presidential candidate, is also of major concern to Ali, as candidates must have a university degree. “So you automatically assume that people who don’t get a university education are unqualified? You’re the ones who spread illiteracy and ruined the education process,” he said, addressing the state. Ali cited the example of prominent Egyptian journalist and writer Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, who does not have a university degree.

Ali also objected to another condition in the same article, which stipulates that the presidential candidate should not suffer from any “physical or mental diseases” that would affect his performance. This would be decided by the health committee appointed by the state. “Is there a list of such diseases?” Ali asked.

“I’m not announcing my withdrawal from the elections. I’m refusing to take part in a charade whose end we all know is predetermined,” he concluded.

Appealing to appeal

Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi sent an open letter, dated March 12, to interim President Adli Mansour asking him to reconsider the immunity given to the Presidential Elections Committee. Sabahi expressed his surprise, which he said is shared by the majority of political factions and legal experts, at not allowing the committee’s decisions to be appealed.

He said Article 7 violates Article 97 of the Egyptian constitution, which states that litigation is a right guaranteed to all, that the state is committed to facilitating the litigation process, and that granting immunity to any act or decision is forbidden.

“Violating the constitution less than two months after it was approved is not acceptable and not in the country’s best interest,” wrote Sabahi. “It makes the constitution, in which we invested a lot of time and effort, sheer ink on paper, and invites distrust in the Egyptian state on both the local and international levels.”

He refuted claims that the article brings more stability to Egypt following the declaration of election results. According to Sabahi, while the decisions of the Presidential Elections Committee cannot be appealed, a lawsuit can be filed at the Supreme Constitutional Court against the law according to which the president is elected. “Then, too, the legitimacy of the elected president will be questioned and stability is not expected to prevail.”

Constitutional legality

Prominent constitutional expert Nour Farahat said: “I was extremely surprised when I read the law. How come a law that violates the constitution is issued in a country that witnessed two revolutions and is ruled by the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court?”

Farahat said the principle of immunity was unacceptable during the rule of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, but is being approved now. “No man of law with a clear professional conscience could ever accept that,” Farahat said.

He added that while Egypt is struggling to prove that the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood was the result of a popular revolution rather than a military coup, this law makes matters worse. “The article makes it seem to the international community that the law is tailored for one particular candidate.”

Ayman Salama, a professor of international law, seconded Farahat’s opinion. “All citizens have the right to appeal decisions made by different judicial bodies,” he said. “This right is not only safeguarded by the constitution, but also by international law.”

For judge Ali Awad, the president’s advisor for constitutional affairs, the law is the most adequate for the critical stage through which Egypt is going. “Egypt is going through a tough time as far as security is concerned, and we need to be practical in order to complete the electoral process within the time limit specified in the post-June 30 roadmap,” he said.

Awad said appealing the committee’s decisions would result in a lengthy legal process that would leave Egypt in a political vacuum, resulting in more chaos. He denied that Article 7 violates the constitution, but did not elaborate.

Law professor and constitutional expert Shawki al-Sayed said even though the committee’s decisions cannot be appealed before courts, this does not mean they are absolutely irreversible. “The committee’s decisions can still be appealed before the committee itself, since it’s considered an independent judicial body characterized by neutrality,” he said.

Judge Mohamed Hamed al-Gamal, former head of the State Council, said the article is necessary to prevent “certain factions” from disrupting the electoral process. “Those factions want to obstruct the roadmap and to delay the elections,” he said.

Islamist parties see the law and the withdrawal of Ali as evidence that the presidential elections will not be free or fair. Hamza Zobaa, official spokesman of the Freedom and Justice Party – the political arm of the Brotherhood – said the results are expected to be rigged in favor of army chief and Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

“When candidates withdraw, it means they realize that the electoral process is just a farce that Sisi initiated to deceive theworld into thinking that we have a real democracy,” Zobaa said. The ultra-conservative al-Watan Party shares the same view. “It is indeed a farce and Hamdeen Sabahi is part of it,” said party spokesman Ahmed Badei.

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